EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

Now it can be told: the official release date for Omega is December 14th early February! Of course, we can't confirm what time exactly, but we will do our absolute best to get this epic release to you in a stable, tested condition! To satisfy your curiousity on some of Omega's amazing features, enjoy this new Design Notes as we continue the Omega marathon!

Changes to NPCs

Today we wanted to go over some changes to how NPC fights will work in Omega. We want NPCs to fill the purposes of:

1) training or testing builds

2) gaining credits

3) furthering missions and the storyline

They currently fill some other purposes that we want to move away from, including padding battle records, faction farming, and leveling.

NPCs will not give experience after level 5. This will allow new players to be eased into the battle system, but afterwards we want the focus to be on PvP. This also allows leveling players to get credits without continuing to level if they feel like they are falling behind.

NPCs will no longer give Battle Tokens or Influence. Since you can fight them without limit, we don’t want factions or players to farm them for Tokens or Influence. Again, we want the focus here to be on PvP.

NPCs will not give rewards if you lose. We don’t want people to purposely lose to NPCs over and over, so you will need to win to get Credits or other rewards.

Brainwashing is removed since it is no longer necessary.

Enhancements

We know there are still many questions about what we’re doing with Enhancements, but we’re not quite ready to talk about this in-depth yet. We will say now that the new system will allow for much greater customization than before, and will involve equipping passive effects and active abilities to your weapons.

Additionally, we will be providing compensation for those that have enhanced weapons in the current system. We’ll provide more specifics soon.

Omega Obliteration!

We would like to kick off our new development phase with not one, but TWO promotional packages. These designs were inspired by devoted EpicDuel player and aspiring artist TrizzzCentrino! You can choose from the Omega Obliteror set, which features an energy sword plus a mutating weapon!

OR if physical damage is more your thing, you may select the Omega Onslaughter!

All of these weapons will offer 2 new weapon skills (one active, one passive) to give you an edge in Omega. We will explain what these skills are and what they do as soon as we finalize the details!

Speaking of promotions: Check out Heromart's Coming Soon page for details on the upcoming "Are You Yeti" shirt! This epic garment will come with not one, but TWO yetis for you to play with for the upcoming release!

The Frozen North

Alydriah has been up to no good in her captured territory. However, there is one bastion of hope in this shattered land:

Titan stands watch from his mountain lair in Frysteland. Many displaced Krampus have taken shelter at the foot of this mountain fortress, seeking some respite from constant harassment from Legion troops. Alydriah is smart enough to steer clear of this mysterious refuge, but not so fearful that she wouldn't taunt the gods of Delta V through more indirect means. What new cybernetic terrors has Alydriah created in during the Legion's occupation of this region? Would Alydriah burn Frysteland to the ground just to annoy Titan? How many cheeseburgers do you think Titan has hidden up there?

I guess you'll have to login to find out!

Easy on the Eyes

As we mentioned earlier, the early game experience is getting a drastic overhaul, starting with the login and class selection screens. We will also be refreshing the look of the base armors and styles to reflect this graphical overhaul. This might not be tremendously exciting to our veteran players, but it will make EpicDuel 1000% more appealing to new players, expanding the total number of active players, which means more opponents for you!

WHY NO UPDATE?!

With all the changes to the database structure and game code, we literally cannot release before it's ready. Also, preparing a weekly release would divert time away from development on Omega, and we cannot spare a second at this point!

So you roughed up Rabblefroth pretty good last week, eh? Apparently, you knocked his massive backpack over and forced him to unload a bounty of new harvest-themed seasonal rares!

Since we were strapped for time, we asked the kind artists at AQW to lend a hand and we received enough assets to create a veritable cornucopia of new weapons! We tried to add enough EpicDuel flavoring to make them appear uniquely dangerous, while retaining that festive holiday feel that AQW artists do so well.

Visit Rabblefroth in the Wasteland to inspect his holiday wares before the Harvest ends and the cold winds of the North descend upon the citizens of Delta V.

Are You Yeti?

That's right! The cuddly-but-deadly creatures from Frysteland are alive and well and will be returning to EpicDuel this December. There's no better way to rub this oversight in Alydriah's face than by wearing it on a slick navy blue t-shirt.

*Shirt logo colors are not finalized. We are still working with the printers to get the best possible quality.

Look for the "Are You Yeti?" shirts in HeroMart within the next few weeks. Be sure to follow Faith's Twitter for ongoing developments!

Omega Marathon

Note: Today's update is not Omega. This section of the DNs is a preview of our current progress on Omega.

As part of the Omega release, we will be returning to the frozen tundra of Frysteland to check in on Alydriah and her latest plans for the region. Check out some of the awesome concept art Charfade has been working on as we prepare to revisit this arctic wonderland.

I've seen a lot of questions on the Tweetbooks and Facespace about the purpose of these class designs, and I will clarify right now that they are not new classes, but revamped versions of the base classes (Hunters, Mercenaries, and Mages). This is to create a better experience for new players and make the game feel fresh again for veterans.

Balancing 6 classes is no simple task, and we would rather tighten that balance than add 3 new classes. Plus, we feel it would be much more interesting to increase the diversity of play styles for all the existing classes so a Tech Mage plays completely differently from a Bounty Hunter and so forth. One way we hope to achieve this is by eliminating or modifying overlapping skills. We hope to make several changes in the Omega update that will make this diversification easier to implement and balance which we will elaborate upon as more details are finalized.

That's all from me for now. Happy dueling and Happy Harvest! Be sure to take time and reflect upon all that your are thankful for and cherish those close to you!

Geez, don’t take me so literally. I don’t constantly put hidden meaning into every syllable I type.

Happy Leap Day, players! Happy Birthday to all of you whose calendar age is 1/4 their chronological age. We’ve got some awesome stuff in store for you this week, so let’s say we jump right on in! (har dee har har)

Please, don’t leave me...

The Heartbreaker saga has come to its, well, heartbreaking conclusion. Players should go to the Guard Outpost in Fortune City to see how your plans turned out. I don’t want to spoil it for you guys, so you’ll just have to report to the Outpost to watch the cutscene.

Since we’ve concluded the Heartbreaker Saga, these missions will be going rare, as well as the Frysteland Aftermath missions, so now is the time to get those in if you haven’t done so already.

New Promotional Pack!

By popular demand (yes, Facebook fans, I’ve seen your constant posts and tweets begging for a new promo pack and “WHEN NEW PROMO PACK? ANSWER NOW!”), the Heartbreaker/Azrael promotional pack, along with all the other Heartbreaker-themed weapons will be going out NEXT week, so players still have another week to purchase this amazing item package.

The Celtic Cleaver, with its "Lucky Strike" skill, and all the other Celtic items from last year are coming back next week as well. What luck!

If it ain’t broke...

Due to the overwhelming popularity of PvP drops, we’re planning to add 50 more broken items! These broken items can be fixed by Ulysses for a mere fraction of the original varium cost, and these new weapons go all the way up to level 33! By Grabthar’s hammer, what a savings!

The balance changes for low-level Tech Mages seemed to work really well, so this week we’re focusing on addressing balance at higher levels. Go Rabblefroth! :D

There goes the neighborhood...

If you follow me (@Cinderella_ED) or Nightwraith (@Nightwraith_ED) on Twitter, you may have seen us conversing with two of the NPCs, specifically Lysander Cox/the NegaWraith (@Negawraith_ED) and Alydriah Descarl (@AllWillObey). If you tweet, feel free to follow all of us on Twitter! In addition, if you haven’t already, “like” us on Facebook at facebook.com/EpicDuelOfficial

Drink! :D

This week’s Insect Fact is based on a brand spanking new paper (seriously, it was just published 10 days ago), so I’m super-excited about this. Endoparasitism by parasitoid wasps is a huge mortality factor for insect larvae across taxa, and insect species have various ways to combat parasitoid infection. One hypothesis for how insects combat parasitoids is the “nasty host hypothesis”, wherein in addition to normal immune response (insects do not have adaptive immune responses like we do, but they do have an immune system that allows them to fend off infection and encapsulate parasites) insects larvae are able to sequester allelochemicals from their host plants and sequester them in their hemolymph and body fat, which poisons the parasites. In the case of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, fly larvae that are exposed to ethanol are not parasitized as often by wasps, and when larvae are infected, consumption of ethanol causes increased death of the wasp larvae. Also, after infection, the fly larvae will search for sources of ethanol to consume. Infected fly larvae are twice as likely to survive parasitism by a generalist parasitoid after consuming ethanol than those that did not, indicating that the fly is self-medicating with ethanol. This is not the first time that this has been observed- flies infected with bacteria will give themselves fevers by seeking out heat sources to kill the bacterial infection.

After all this waiting (as our fans have made abundantly clear, it’s been a long wait) we’re finally releasing EpicDuel Delta. Sometime on Wednesday, June 29th (what time? When it’s ready o’clock) we will be rolling live with the next stage of EpicDuel’s evolution!

Delta Gear

As a special thanks to our players who upgrade during the Delta stage, purchasers of the Epic Varium Package AFTER THE DELTA RELEASE GOES LIVE will receive the Delta Destroyer WeaponPack! This includes 4 beautiful, rare weapons: the Delta Destroyer itself- which can be used by any class, the piercing Delta Daggers, the crushing Delta Maul, and the powerful Delta Staff.

But that's not all! The Delta Destroyer weapons also include an added bonus -- a 13% chance to apply a unique curse effect on an enemy each time the weapon is used. A cursed player is reduced in size and suffers a 20 point reduction in support!

Blllllllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!! *cursed*

Titan isn't used to being the shortest guy in the room!

To commemorate this epic new development phase, everybody will be able to go to any Achievement vendor and pick up the FREE Delta Knight Achievement!

With the dawn of Delta, it does mean that the Gamma Gear and Gamma achievement will be going rare forever! So grab it before it’s gone for good!

New Classes

We’ve been tirelessly working on balancing the three new classes, shuffling skills around, etc. and you folks are really in for a treat! I know that many of you have seen my character page reading “_ Mercenary” (we ended up fixing that bug- go Titan!), but we have a bigger testing team than ever: Titan, Nightwraith, and Charfade of course, Dorumon, Rainaka, Wiseman, Omni, Ashari, Roshuno, me (Cinderella), and we even managed to steal Randor the Red. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank everybody who helped us out with testing the Delta release.

These new classes should provide the player who loves a challenge with increased variety of skills and builds, and are available from any class change vendor. They will also be able to use the same weapons and armors as the three original classes.

Blood Mage is the more aggressive and violent version of the Tech Mage. After being hardened by battle, some of the mages developed a lust for blood, and a balance between magic and melee. As a Blood Mage, you will be able to use the devastating Plasma Cannon, which includes a 25% chance for critical strike and ignores 20% of your opponent’s resistance. Blood Mages will be able to wear Tech Mage armor and use swords or staffs.

Cyber Hunter is a technologically advanced hunter. Some members of Baelius’s Shadow Guard started experimenting with the advanced technology available on the main continent, integrating some of that technology into their battle repertoire. As a Cyber Hunter, you will be able to use the Plasma Grenade, which explodes on contact- injuring your enemy with a 30% chance to stun! Cyber Hunters will be able to wear Bounty Hunter armor and use swords or wristblades.

Tactical Mercenary is an intellectual and crafty mercenary who uses tricks to defeat the enemy. When Baelius took over the planet, some of the more intellectual citizens were forced to work in the mines, and were able to create tactical weaponry from the mining tools- such as the Toxic Grenade which has an unblockable Damage Over Time effect. Tactical Mercenaries will be able to wear Mercenary armor and use swords or mauls.

To make class changes more accessible for everyone, we have reduced the price of Class Change to 900 VARIUM! We are also introducing a credit-only class change option! By Grabthar's Hammer, what a savings!

2 vs 1 Boss Battles!

You asked for it, we built it! This is probably the feature we’re most excited about, honestly, and we’re really proud of what we came up with! Titan’s rigged it up so that you’ll be able to pick your partner from your buddy list. You select your buddy, then click on the icon that looks like a little chain. This requests an “Ally Link” with your buddy, which will change the icon next to your buddy from a green dot (indicating online) to a little chain, allowing you to team up for boss battles!

Step 1: Select a buddy. If you don't have any buddies, then it's time to socialize!

Step 2: Click the link button on your buddy list (it looks like a little chain link)! This will issue an ally request.

Step 3: After your buddy accepts, click the challenge button on the NPC. The battle will begin after your ally joins. Note that only certain NPCs can be challenged by 2 players.

Step 4: FIGHT! You'll need all the help you can get against this literal monster.

(A BIG thank you to Rainaka for helping me demo this!)

You may have noticed that the first 2v1 boss you’ll be able to defeat is the Armor Hazard. To celebrate her return to Fortune City, Alydriah Descarl “commissioned” a pet from Fortune City’s Biological Researchers- in particular, a promising young scientist working on insects named Ella St. Alban (better known as Cinderella). She created this abomination created by transfecting a fetal BioHazard with a virus carrying genes of her beloved Armour Beetles. Cinderella barely survived delivering the thing to Descarl, but teaming together, two seasoned warriors may be able to defeat it. Cinderella says that the only way it can be killed, however, is to remove BOTH it's hearts...

New and Improved!

The New: Several new faces are showing up in Delta V- or just coming out of hiding.

Alydriah Descarl is the beautiful and cold architect of the destruction of Delta V. Her cruelty strikes fear into the hearts of even the most battle hardened soldiers of the Legion. Preferring public executions and flagellation to the soft punishments of the modern age, she earned a place at the head of the Legion. However, her main love is destruction, and her appetite for destruction leads her to fight not only against the surviving exiles, but her own former allies.

The Imperial Tech Mage is one of Baelius’s creations. The Imperial Tech Mages were an elite force of warrior mages. They were famous for their resilience due to the fact that most of them did not survive the training process. After the Banishment- which imprisoned the vast majority of the population of Delta V between dimensions- some of the Imperial Tech Mages chose to follow Alydriah or Caden.

The Mystery of Alydriah and the masked mages can’t compare to another individual lurking somewhere in the dark underbelly of Fortune City. Could this Mysterious Individual be the one really masterminding the Revolution? To discover his aims and secrets and how they effect EpicDuel, you’ll first have to find him...

The Improved: Alydriah Descarl is not only a lover of destruction, but a lover of beauty. She’s commissioned the rebuilding of her beloved Fortune City. Players can expect a much more attractive visual experience.

As a bit of EpicDuel trivia, here is THE FIRST iteration of Fortune City from the pre-Alpha days.

What amatuer drew that, anyway? :p

Thank you to all of our dedicated staff and players for make this game what it is. Without your continued support, we wouldn’t be able to keep making the awesome happen.